How To Become A Principal Gifts Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a principal gifts officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a principal gifts officer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $41.52 an hour? That's $86,359 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 11% and produce 11,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePrincipal Gifts OfficerUS Average

Salary

6.7

Avg. Salary $86,359

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.1

Growth rate 11%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.29%

Asian 5.08%

Black or African American 5.13%

Hispanic or Latino 7.83%

Unknown 4.11%

White 77.55%

Gender

female 40.92%

male 59.08%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress level

6.1

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.7

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a principal gifts officer

Explore principal gifts officer education requirements

Most common principal gifts officer degrees

Bachelor's

56.6 %

Master's

26.5 %

Diploma

4.3 %

Start to develop specific principal gifts officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Donor Database	14.51%
Leadership Gifts	13.47%
Professional Development	13.43%
Capital Campaign	9.53%
Donor Relations	8.39%

Complete relevant principal gifts officer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New principal gifts officers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a principal gifts officer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real principal gifts officer resumes.

Research principal gifts officer duties and responsibilities

Manage all aspects of donor prospecting, cultivation, stewardship, and budget/vendor/consultant management for special events and individual giving.
Coordinate among cross-functional business departments including investor relations, risk, trading desk, compliance, tax/accounting, and portfolio administration.
Execute PAC fundraising plan for congressional and political action committee clients.

Get principal gifts officer experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a principal gifts officer. The most common roles before becoming a principal gifts officer include development director, senior officer team lead and officer.

Apply for principal gifts officer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a principal gifts officer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do principal gifts officers rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Principal gifts officer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2019

Pros

Attending and meeting people at events

Cons

- The pressure of securing funds. - comparing the role with sales and/or fundraising - lack of response from donors you are reaching out to. It made me feel as if I wasn't doing my job of connecting with them.